legee



(No Model.)

J. LEGER & E; KELLER.

, COMBINED DOOR KNOB AND STOP. No. 329,321. Patented Oct. 27, 1885.

[raw/2202:)"

UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

JOHN LEGER AND ERNEST KELLER, OF N EW YORK, N. Y.

COMBINED DOOR KNOB AND STOP.

PECIPICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,321, dated October27, 1885.

Application filed March 25, 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOHN LEGER and ERNEST KELLER, citizens of theUnited States, residing at New York, county and State of New York, haveinvented a certain new and Improved Combined Door Knob and Stop, ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention consists in so constructing the knobs of door latches andlooks as to impart to them the additional functions of stops orcushioning devices, to prevent injury to the walls or other parts ofbuildings or to the knobs when the doors are opened, to accomplish whichwe provide the face of said knobs with soft and elastic cushions orstop-pieces. By imparting to a door-knob the properties of an elasticstop all jars or strains to the doors when opened against a fixed objectare opposed by a soft and elastic medium at about the central part ofthe door, between the hinges, thus avoiding the twisting strain appliedto the hinges by the use of ordinary door-stops, which have heretoforebeen secured to the lower part of the wall or fixed object projectingtherefrom sufficiently to stop the door before the knob comes in contactwith the wall, by the lower corner of the door striking the stop.Another objection to such fixedprojecting stops is that they arein theway, and are sometimes broken or knocked off the wall. Two doors areoften so located that their knobs strike together, or the knob of eachcomes in contact with the other door when one or both of them areopened.

Our improved elastic stop-knob is particularly useful when applied tosuch doors, as it will prevent injury to the knobs and doors.

In making knobs embracing our invention the knobs, whether of porcelain,metal, or other material, are provided with a recess or recesses intheir faces, formed therein during the process of manufacture, and noother changes are made in the knobs over the ordinary mode of makingthem. In these recesses are placed plugs or blocks made of a soft andelastic material, preference being given to india-rubber for thispurpose, their exposed surfaces projecting beyond the face of the knob;and these surfaces may be formed in any ornamental manner, as desired.To secure these soft elastic stop-cushions in the knobs, the recesses inthe knobs may be underof the same.

Serial No. 160,127. (No model.)

cut or dovetail in form, the stop-cushions being correspondingly shapedand pressed therein, with or without a cement; or the recesses may beplain and the stop-cushions secured therein by means of a suitablecement.

In the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, towhich we will now refer, Figure l is a side view of our combined doorknob and stop, partly in section, showing the elastic cushion centrallylocated in the face of the knob. Fig. 2 is a face View Fig. 3 is a sideview, partly in section, showing the elastic cushion in the form of anannulus secured in the face of the knob. Fig. 4 is a face view of thesame. Fig. 5 is a side view, partly in section, showing a modificationin the method of securing the elastic cushion centrally in the knob, andFig. 6 is a face view of a door-knob provided with several plugs of anelastic material secured in and projecting from the face of the same.

The doorknob a, composed of any suitable material, is applied to thedoor in the ordinary manner, and. made as heretofore, with the exceptionof having the recess a formed in its face, which recess, in Fig. 1, iscircular, with the outer edge or side undercut, as shown, and in Fig. 5is similarly shaped, with straight sides or edges. In the recess a isplaced the circular piece of elastic material I), shaped so as to fit inthe recess a and to be somewhat compressed when forced therein. Theexposed part of cushion 6 projects beyond the face of the knob a, and itis provided with flange I), which rests on the face of the knob at theedge of the recess a, and so covers the juncture of the cushion with theknob. This flange b may be omitted, if desired. The under or inner sideof the elastic cushion b is hollowed or recessed, as shown at b toimpart to it greater elasticity when its face first comes in contactwith a fixed object by the movement of the door to which the knob isattached, and the pressure, if sufficient, eventually compresses thesubstance of the elastic cushion itself, thus opposing to the movementof the door a gradually-increasing amount of resistance. The elasticcushion may, if desired, or when the substance of which it is composedis sufficiently soft and elastic, be made so as to entirely fill therecess in the knob a. In practice we have found the soft and elastickind of vulcanized india-rubber the substance best adapted for thispurpose.

Instead of the elastic cushion being applied to the knob in the form ofa circular central plug, as shown at Figs. 1, 2, and 5, it may be madeannular in form, as at 0, Figs. 2 and 3, and secured in acorrespondingly-shaped recess, a, in the knob a; or several separateplugs, d d, of elastic india-rubber or other suitable material, may besecured in separate holes or recesses formed in the face of the knob, asshown at Fig. 6, it being understood, in whatever form the stop-cushionsmay be made, that in all cases their elastic faces project beyond therigid body of the knob in such a manner as to prevent it from coming incon- .tact with the wall or other object near which the door is located.The elastic cushion may be secured in the body of the knob or attachedthereto by any suitable cement; or, where the contact parts are undercutor dovetailed, the resilience of the cushion may be relied on to hold itin place. The exposed part of the elastic cushions may be figured asdesired, to add to the ornamental appearance of the knobs, and for alike object they may also be of various colors.

Having now described our invention, What we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent,is

1. As an article of manufacture, a doorknob having a soft and elasticcushioning-face, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination, a doorknob provided with a recess in its face, and anelastic cushioning-piece shaped so as to fit into said recess andproject beyond the face of the knob, substantially as and for thepurpose set forth.

3. The combination, with the knob a, having the undercut recess a, ofthe elastic cushion b, with or without the flange I), having its innerside, I)", hollowed or recessed, substantially as and for the purposeset forth.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands, at New York, countyand State of New York, this 19th day of March, 1885.

JOHN LEGER. ERNEST KELLER.

-Witnesses:

H. D. \VILLIAMs, ALFRED SHEDLocK.

